A Different Sort Of Safe House
by EmruasCat
Summary: Harry knew things would be weird when threats of evisceration and offers of cookies happened in the same night.
1. Chapter 1

**For this story:**

***Spike is alive. Buffy found out he resurrected and didn't tell anyone, and was Not Happy. As a result, he is currently traveling with Xander, who does not stay in one place more than two months at a time.**

***I am blatantly ignoring anything that happened in books 6 and 7 of Harry Potter. Rowling killed off too many of my favorite characters in those books.**

***I'm going to be playing fast and loose with timelines. The BTVS part is post-Chosen. For Harry Potter, well…Harry's eighteen, and the year in my story is 2006.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own BTVS or Harry Potter; those honors go to Joss Whedon and JK Rowling, respectively. I wish I had the gift of imagination that those two have.**

Chapter 1: Introductions and Reunions

"If you don't get that Fyarl goop off the carpet, I'm going to eviscerate you, you little bastard!" an aggravated voice screeched.

Harry's eyes widened, and he took a hurried step away from the house.

Remus rolled his eyes. "Welcome to the Slayers and Watchers International Council London safe house, Harry." The werewolf mounted the steps of the large town house, pausing when he realized Harry hadn't moved. "It's alright, cub. They're loud and rough, but they're _safe_." He knocked sharply on the door.

"I'll get it!" Four or five voices chorused, and a rush of footsteps sounded, before the door was flung open, revealing several teenage girls.

Remus blinked, then smiled politely. "Good evening, ladies. I'm Remus Lupin."

"Oh, Mr. Giles' friend!"

"He told us you were coming."

"Are you a werewolf?"

"It's cool if you are, so long's you eat anyone. Oz drops by all the time."

"Who's he? Is that a baby? Is it a boy or a girl?"

Remus' polite smile warmed a little at the rapidfire, but openly friendly chatter. "Yes, I am a werewolf. This is my unofficial godson, Harry, and the baby he's holding is his daughter, Mirabel."

"Ladies, how's about we clear the doorway?" a new voice interrupted.

"'Kay, Xander," the girls chorused, and scooted out of the way of a tall, well-built young man with messy shoulder-length brown hair and an eyepatch.

The young man swung the door fully open, then stood to one side, waiting quietly.

"Ah yes, the vampire rule," Remus murmured. "Harry, c'mon." Harry hesitantly followed his adopted godfather through the door, casting a wary glance at the one-eyed man.

Once through the doorway, Harry found himself surrounded by giggling girls who all wanted a better look at the baby in his arms. Harry hastily edged away toward his godfather as his instincts shrieked at him. The war in the Wizarding World had honed his fight-or-flight reaction to a razor edge; intellectually, Harry knew the girls meant no harm, but he could feel the power of the Slayer in all of them, and his magic was telling him to run, or lash out. He didn't want to hurt the people who'd given them sanctuary.

Remus wrapped an arm around Harry's shoulders, drawing him close. The werewolf's magical aura wrapped around Harry, and the smaller wizard breathed a little easier as the odd contradiction of wild wolf and deep-seated tranquility permeated Harry's tension.

"Follow me, gentlemen, and I'll show you to Giles' office," the one-eyed man said kindly, shooting Harry a sympathetic look once the teenagers had cleared out. "Sorry 'bout the mob. We don't get a lot of visitors, so the girls tend to pounce whenever one shows up."

Harry cleared his throat. "Ah, th-that's alright," he said softly. "Umm…" Harry drew in a deep breath. "I have PTSD," he blurted out. "I don't want to hurt anyone, but my reflexes…"

The man nodded, and Harry was relieved to see understanding without pity. "You're a wizard, right? So my girls would be ducking more than just fists or knives."

"Yes," Harry said hoarsely as they climbed a set of stairs to the second floor of the house, turned a corner, and began mounting another set of steps.

"That's okay. I'm assuming you can ward whatever room we give you?" At Harry's nod he continued, "I'll let the girls know not to crowd you or sneak up behind you. Cool?"

Harry nodded. "Thank you."

They stepped onto the third floor, and the man paused. "I'm Xander Harris, and you don't have to thank me for anything," he said firmly.

Harry looked into the man's steady brown eye, and felt something tight uncoil within him. Long accustomed to paying sharp attention to his instincts, Harry gave the man a small, but real, smile.

_HPAHHPAHHPAHHPAHHPAH_

Xander's breath caught at the sudden beauty of that smile. It was fleeting, and the wariness never left the wizard's eyes, but Xander was abruptly made aware that Harry Potter was extremely attractive.

Two years in Africa had left Xander – finally – comfortable in his own skin. Part of that comfort came from acknowledging that he was sometimes attracted to males, although he hadn't actually found that many (a grand total of three), still tending far more towards the female persuasion. Now, though…Catching a glimpse of Harry's tight bottom as he and Lupin entered Giles' office, Xander could safely say to himself that he wouldn't mind getting to know the wizard better.

Xander shook his head and leaned against the wall beside the closed door. He knew trauma when he saw it, having experienced plenty of it himself, and Harry had warned him himself. Gaining the wizard's friendship would most likely be a long and delicate process, and Xander did not do delicate well. But something was pulling Xander to the wizard; his protective instincts were reacting – almost the same way they did when one of his girls were hurt, but different somehow.

His gaze lifted from the floor when he heard footsteps. He grinned at the person who approached; the person grinned back before entering the office.

Xander's grin widened when he heard a whoop of joy: "Sirius!"


	2. Chapter 2

**For this story:**

***Spike is alive. Buffy found out he resurrected and didn't tell anyone, and was Not Happy. As a result, he is currently traveling with Xander, who does not stay in one place more than two months at a time.**

***I am blatantly ignoring anything that happened in books 6 and 7 of Harry Potter. Rowling killed off too many of my favorite characters in those books.**

***I'm going to be playing fast and loose with timelines. The BTVS part is post-Chosen. For Harry Potter, well…Harry's eighteen, and the year in my story is 2006.**

Disclaimer: I do not own BTVS or Harry Potter; those honors go to Joss Whedon and JK Rowling, respectively. I wish I had the gift of imagination that those two have.

Chapter 2: Waking Up

The next morning, Xander woke up early. This was strange, and he took a moment to figure out why.

Oh, that was it – that mouthwateringly-delicious smell drifting through the house. Xander tugged a t-shirt on – he typically just slept in boxers during the summer – and wandered downstairs toward the kitchen, watching with amusement as the other occupants of the house floated into the kitchen as well. He was reminded of those old cartoons where the smell of cooking food literally dragged characters through the house.

Remus Lupin sat at the kitchen table holding the baby, eyeing the newcomers with amusement. Sirius sat next to him, one arm wrapped around Remus' waist. The other arm was being used to pillow his head on the table as he slept. Giles sat across from the two of them, sipping a cup of tea and reading the newspaper.

Harry turned away from the stove to blink at Xander and several of the Slayers. "Err, did I wake all of you?"

"Food," Dawn said, stumbling into the kitchen, followed by Buffy.

Harry blinked again at the drooling visible from all of the girls staring at him, then his lips curved upward in an amused smile. "Shall I make some for you all?"

Twenty minutes later…

"Oh my gods," Dawn moaned through a mouthful of eggs and grits. "Will you marry me?"

"No, thank you. I make a point never to marry a girl before I know her first name," Harry said mildly, setting more eggs, hash browns, bacon, and sausage on the table. Remus and Sirius snickered as the Slayers dove for it all.

"'M Dawn," the girl mumbled through another mouthful. "Marry me?"

"No, thank you. Perhaps I should have said I'll never marry a girl at all. I'm not, err, interested in them romantically."

"Why are all the cute ones taken or gay?" Buffy wondered.

"Why are all the cute ones who are awesome cooks gay?" Dawn complained.

Harry flushed, but looked amused. "If it makes you feel any better, I won't be seeking romantic companionship for quite some time."

"Why?" Dawn asked.

The baby began to fuss, and Harry turned off the stove before lifting the infant out of Remus' arms and into his own. He made a plucking motion in midair, like he was pulling a book off of a shelf, and a bottle appeared in his hand. He glanced at Dawn, then nodded to the baby in his arms. He tested the contents of the bottle on the outside of the arm cradling the baby before sitting down at the table himself and beginning to feed the now-calm infant.

Sirius, who'd watched the entire scene with amusement, spoke up. "You need to get something to eat yourself, pup." The other Slayers echoed him.

Harry shook his head a little without looking away from the baby. His bangs, which were long and uncontrollably messy like the rest of his hair, fell forward over his eyes to hide their exact expression in a defensive mechanism that Xander suspected pre-dated his years as the visible Boy-Who-Lived. "I'm never very hungry in the morning anymore, Sirius. I'd appreciate some tea, if there's any left."

Dawn grabbed the pot before any of the Slayers could. Smirking at their disappointed looks, she poured the last of the still-hot tea into a cup and set it in front of Harry before going to the stove to make another pot.

"Thank you," Harry said politely, pausing in feeding the baby to take a drink. The baby let out a demanding "meh!" and batted at the bottle, making the Slayers giggle and coo.

"How old is she?" Buffy asked, the foolish smile that comes over adults around babies curving her lips.

"Four months," Harry answered.

"She looks just like you," Dawn observed. "She's got that same adorably messy dark hair."

Harry made a face at her. "Adorable is not an adjective to which I aspire," he said dryly, making several of the girls snicker.

Giles, carefully hiding a smile of his own, said, "Girls, you've schoolwork and practice to attend to." At the multiple *aww c'mons*, he said, "Mr. Potter and his daughter will be with us for some time. You'll have opportunities to coo over the child later." Grumbling, most of the teenage girls left the table. Dawn and Buffy remained behind.

"So, we thought you might wanna know how your godfather is, well…" Buffy began.

"Alive?" Remus supplied drolly, eyeing a suddenly innocent-looking Sirius with narrowed eyes.

"Why he couldn't bother to WRITE?" Harry supplied through clenched teeth.

Sirius winced, and reached out to touch Harry's hair. The Boy-Who-Lived flinched at the touch, something none of those present missed. Sirius' expression filled with pain, and he moved from his position by Remus to a seat by Harry, gathering his godson close, careful of the dozing baby. "I didn't get back to this dimension until a few months ago," he said tightly. "I tried writing, pup, I tried every day since I got back. All the letters kept getting magically reflected back to me, and I didn't dare contact anyone to find out why. The last time I ran out without thinking it cost me too much."

Power hummed in the air as Harry struggled to control his temper at the news that his godfather had been prevented from communicating with him. Giles' eyes widened at the raw strength that Harry was literally holding onto by a thread.

"Take a deep breath, Harry," Remus warned softly.

The baby opened her eyes and made a cooing sound, waving her arms at her tense parent.

Harry swallowed at the sound of the baby, and the power diminished. "Dumbledore. Or the Ministry."

"Your Ministry doesn't know Black is back," Giles informed him. "After Sirius explained to us his situation regarding Peter Pettigrew, we felt it best to keep his presence within our walls quiet."

Harry's eyes turned solid green for a moment, with no black pupil visible. "Dumbledore, then," he said low and bitter.

Buffy eyed him carefully. "Do your eyes do that a lot?"

Harry blinked, and his eyes were normal again. "No. Only when I am reining in my power to keep it from breaking something important – like your windows."

Dawn tilted her head. "So this Dumbledore's a prick?"

"He's a manipulative old man who hid behind a fifteen-year-old," Remus gritted out.

Xander's eye narrowed. "Sounds familiar," he growled, and Dawn and Buffy nodded.

Giles straightened in his chair, and there was a flash in his eyes of something Xander and the girls recognized as Ripper. "All four of you are safe here. The British Ministry of Magic doesn't DARE interfere with the Council, and Hogwarts School has no say in how our magical children are educated."

"Hogwarts?" Buffy asked incredulously. "Someone actually named a school 'HOGWARTS'?" Xander and Dawn had similar disbelieving looks on their faces.

A corner of Harry's mouth twitched, and a bit of the tension slipped away from him. "I'd still like to know how you got out of the Veil, Sirius."

Sirius cleared his throat. "See, it started with those two," he nodded at Buffy and Dawn, "some slime, and a turnip."

Remus pressed a palm to his face, groaning, while Harry rolled his eyes. This was going to be interesting.


End file.
